"It's always tough coming to Gwinn," IM head coach Jeanne Newberry said. "They have good jumpers, their setters have good hands and Stephanie always puts together a strong team."

The Mountaineers struck early, however, taking the six-point lead behind aces from Kristen Gendron and Marti Pirkola.

"We just moved well," Newberry said. "Our feet were moving and we were in a good defensive mode.

"But then frustration set in when it got to 10-10. We got caught on our heels then."

Wedig paced the comeback with three kills, while Talsma recorded two kills and an ace. Gwinn then pulled away behind three aces from Aho.

"Katie's a tough and consistent server," Bahrman said. "She has been working on her serve for a while.

"And Talsma can hit spots with her shots. She's very dependable on her swings."

Said Newberry: "We played deep instead of short (on GHS serves). We got locked into our zone defense."

Gwinn led from the get-go in the second game, though IM (1-4, 1-2) closed the gap to 17-13. But Chelsea Moton produced a kill and Aho then posted three unanswered aces to give the Modeltowners a comfortable 21-13 advantage.

"The girls were swinging away," Bahrman said. "I push the girls to be aggressive and they were getting their feet in place to hit the ball."

Game 3 was nearly a carbon copy of the second. Gwinn jumped out early for a 7-3 lead and after IM made a modest comeback to get to within a point at 8-7, the Modeltowners put the pedal to the metal to win going away.

Tori Lauren posted a kill and added two blocks for points for GHS, while Ellie Olsen, Ashley Childs and Aho all chipped in an ace.

"We communicated well in that game," Bahrman said, "and I put in some non-starters who moved their feet."

Pirkola paced the Mountaineers with two kills, three aces and three blocks, while Alena Herman collected three kills and an ace.